Progressive loon Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has argued time and again that unemployment benefits are a great way to create jobs. As Big Government readers know, Pelosi isn’t the only congressional Democrat to build a career coaxing the masses into Washington’s crushing embrace.
Where there’s a Progressive economic fallacy, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is never far away. Sherrod seems to think the U.S. economy performs best with bureaucrats working all the levers. This is his 20th year in Congress, so maybe we should forgive his ignorance of how a free market works!
As an Ohioan, Chris Matthews fawning “you’re the best there is on this argument” is not what I hope for from my senator.
I am impressed, though, with the way Sherrod Brown knows what every wealthy American is going to buy! I wonder how long he had to look into his crystal ball to be absolutely sure extending unemployment benefits is better for the economy than letting citizens keep and invest our own money.
The Right Scoop has footage of Sherrod making a more detailed (but equally laughable) case on the Senate floor around the same time as this Hardball spot.
Like Pelosi, Sherrod also argued for the “stimulus” effects of unemployment benefits in the summer of 2010:
Many have lost their job and, as a result, they lost their health insurance. After that, they lose their home or apartment because they can’t afford the mortgage or rent. Passing an extension of unemployment insurance isn’t just the right thing to do – it will also help stimulate the economy and serve as a critical part of a jobs agenda that puts the middle class first.
Emphasis mine. Sherrod’s solutions for the crises in health care, housing, and unemployment are one and the same – government redistribution, paid for by “The Rich” with a wave of the hand.
Self-righteous demands for shortsighted spending are exactly what we should expect from a Progressive who can’t even manage his own property taxes. The silver lining: Sherrod Brown is up for reelection in November, and Ohio is not California.
Transcript from the Hardball clip follows.
Sherrod Brown: These tax cuts for the rich that Bush did twice, Chris, in ‘01 and ‘03 as you know, resulted in very little economic growth. We saw only 1 million jobs created in the Bush years, 22 million created in the Clinton years, when we reached a balanced budget with a fairer tax system, and there is no, there’s no real history illustrating that these tax cuts for the rich result in jobs. It’s extending unemployment benefits that creates economic activity that creates jobs – not giving a millionaire an extra 10 or 20 or $30,000 in tax cuts that they likely won’t spend because they’re already buying what they’re gonna buy anyway.
Chris Matthews: You’re the best there is on this argument. Sorry, I’ve gotta ask you one last question…
News broke Wednesday that Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was delinquent on his property taxes due September 2011 until last week. Sherrod, who angrily demands bigger central government and higher taxes from “The Rich,” paid the nearly $900 in taxes, penalties, and interest due for his $222,000 D.C. condo only after being questioned by a reporter.
“I was late,” he said on a conference call with reporters when asked about the recent delinquency. ”I misplaced the bill and I paid it as soon as I found out. I paid a penalty for being late, and it won’t happen again.”
Senator Brown lost a tax statement and forgot to pay until a reporter came calling months later, but there’s no cause for alarm! He paid the penalty for his delinquency, and it won’t happen again.
When a reporter noted that it also happened five and six years ago, Brown said, “I misplaced it then. This is a small apartment. I’m not in D.C. nearly every week, I’m here when the Senate’s in session, I’m here three or four nights a week. I paid the penalty. And in no way, obviously, was I avoiding taxes.”
Because “the dog ate it” worked so well the first time around, Sherrod tries the same excuse for three consecutive property tax bills in 2006 and 2007. With no reporters reminding him, Sherrod actually fell so far behind on property taxes his condo was listed for public auction! Odd that a U.S. Senator would forget the existence of taxes for months on end, springing into action only when his property is on the line.
I love Sherrod’s volley of additional excuses. It’s a small apartment! He’s there less than 57% of the time! He’s been serially delinquent with payments, but was in no way avoiding taxes by not paying taxes! Obviously.
Since his election to the Senate, Sherrod has paid over $850 in penalties and interest for his failure to submit D.C. property taxes on time. That’s peanuts for a millionaire who promises trillions to interest groups and insists soaking the rich & slashing the military will pay for it.
Remember, Sherrod is a Progressive who thinks a republic of 300 million can – and should – be ruled by a few thousand bureaucrats in Washington. He’s unable to keep track of his mail and pay his taxes on time twice a year, but that doesn’t stop Sherrod from making big plans with your money!
Demanding bigger government while failing at his most basic civic duty: one more way Sherrod Brown resembles President Obama’s worst cabinet appointees and staff.
When Sherrod Brown (D-OH) spoke at the Ohio Education Association Representative Assembly last spring, he had a receptive audience for his class warfare routine. Since Sherrod is the most extreme leftist in the U.S. Senate and must face Ohio voters this fall, the state’s public union fight was a perfect chance to remind Big Labor he’s their man.
By the end of his 40-second detour into the Progressive causes and glorious federal programs conservatives are attacking, Sherrod had built up a 9x attack multiplier! This sort of word power makes Sherrod Brown a rhetorical king, so long as no one ever asks how to pay for the bankrupt boondoggles he adores.
Similar to the speech where he slammed the faith of the governors on Big Labor’s enemies list, Sherrod gets so wound up talking about conservative attacks that he forgets to explain his alternative! It’s a shame, because Sherrod Brown has had decades in Congress to cook up the perfect tax-and-spend formula.
Still, think how grateful young Ohio teachers should be that Sherrod Brown is protecting their union bosses. If not for Sherrod, Ohio teachers might be paid based on merit! Public layoffs would consider factors other than tenure! Teachers would be asked to cover slightly more of their benefits so schools could avoid layoffs altogether! What a dystopian ruin Ohio would be if the Ohio Education Association had slightly less power.
Sherrod Brown is consistent, at least. He always credits Big Labor and bureaucracy with America’s success, while treating union bosses as the backbone of American society.
I’d like to extend a special thanks to the Columbus Education Association for sharing Sherrod Brown’s energetic pandering to a crowd that demands the impossible from Ohio taxpayers. You can see Sherrod’s keynote and footage from his Q&A session on the union’s YouTube channel (for now).
Transcript follows of the clips featured above.
Clip 1, Sherrod Brown: The vote in November on SB 5 [the union reform bill] repeal is the most important election in the country, the most watched election in the country, because of the attack – the attack on worker and collective bargaining rights, the attack on voting rights, the attack on women in Columbus, in the state legislature. In Washington, the attack on Head Start, the attack on Pell grants, the attack on public radio, the attack on Medicare, the attack on Social Security. All these things, I think, are absolutely hostile, absolutely enimical to what we, as a nation, have stood for for 75 years. The reason we have a prosperous middle class in this country, more than anything, is in the 1930s Congress passed, with Franklin Roosevelt signing, collective bargaining rights.
Clip 2, Sherrod Brown: How can young people not have second thoughts about a profession when the politicians that run our state – the conservative politicians that run our state – are attacking their profession and attacking what they stand for?
Last April, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) took a few minutes from his schedule to talk to a Planned Parenthood group from Cleveland about Ohio Republicans “going after women, and reproductive rights.” Sherrod went to great lengths to make abortion sound like a reason America needs bigger government.
For pro-life Ohioans like myself, the “Heartbeat Bill” to ban abortions after a baby’s heartbeat can be heard sounds like a great idea. According to pro-choice Ohioans, it’s terrible. Surely a U.S. senator with a diploma from Yale and two master’s degrees can dissect the legislation on its merits and explain why abortion on demand is a vital “reproductive right” …right?
Sherrod Brown being Sherrod Brown, what we get instead is a jumbled diatribe making frequent nods to Big Labor. He treats any conflict with his cartoonish Progressive mindset as an example of conservatives “going after” the rights of men, women, and children (wait, scratch that last one) everywhere.
Small wonder Sherrod considers abortion limits, voter ID, union reform, and civil rights “all the same.” Sherrod is a radical without a cause, so whatever he opposes is twisted to fit a tired class warfare narrative. Sherrod Brown should instead be hunting down whoever stole his sense of irony: cheering government-improved life expectancy in a pep talk to Planned Parenthood?
Cut 1 – Sherrod Brown: You know, you see what’s happening in Columbus, they’re trying to take away bargaining rights. [Audience members: Yes. BOOO!] And they’re going after women, and reproductive rights. They’re going after voting rights now, they’re trying, Ohio, if the Senate passes what the House passed, it’ll be the most restrictive voter laws in the country. [Audience: BOOO!] That’s going backwards, not going forward, so your, your voices really matter on choice, on women’s rights, on worker rights, on, on voting rights, on human rights, on civil rights, it’s all the same.
Cut 2 – Sherrod Brown: And, over the last 100 years, look what we’ve done in this country, um, in terms of, of, of civil rights and women’s rights and Social Security and Medicare, and, and minimum wage, and workers’ compensation, and prohibition of child labor, and clean air, and safe drinking water, and auto safety – seat belts, air bags. All these things have made, they’ve made, they’ve given people the ability to live 30 years longer. Back 100 years ago the average American, when you were born in this country you lived to be about 45 on the average. Today people live 30 years longer than that, and it’s because of government doing the right thing when you push government to do the right thing.
Based on the fact that you’re reading this online, I assume you’ve seen the online outcry over Komen for the Cure cutting off grants to Planned Parenthood. In the words of CBS News:
Many suspect the cutoff is linked to the abortion debate. Komen has been under fire by anti-abortion activists, after its connection to the pro-choice organization was publicized.
I’ve ruined the trademark CBS subtlety by marking in bold the network’s refusal to frame the debate as “pro-life” vs. “pro-choice,” or “pro-abortion” vs. “anti-abortion.” Pro-lifers should be glad the reporter didn’t label Live Action and its allies “anti-choice,” I guess!
Unyielding sympathy for Planned Parenthood isn’t limited to fossilized media outlets and your NPR-loving Facebook friends. Many of the senators and representatives up for reelection this fall support abortion so strongly, they’ve voted repeatedly to make you pay for it.
All five of these incumbent Democrat senators are rated 100% by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Among the extreme pro-abortion votes earning Bill Nelson (FL), Claire McCaskill (MO), Sherrod Brown (OH), Debbie Stabenow (MI), and Jon Tester (MT) their perfect Planned Parenthood scores:
All five voted against SCHIP language which, in Planned Parenthood’s words, “unnecessarily personified the fetus.”March 14, 2008, Allard Amendment to S. Con. Res. 70, Roll Call vote 81
All five voted against reinstating the Mexico City policy, which – until President Obama abolished it by executive order – prohibited federal funding of foreign abortion providers. January 28, 2009, Martinez Amendment to H.R. 2; Roll Call vote 19
All five voted against preventing Obamacare from subsidizing abortion coverage. December 8, 2009, Nelson-Hatch Amendment to H.R. 3590, Roll Call vote 369
All five voted against ending federal funding of Planned Parenthood. April 14th, 2011, H. Con. Res. 36, Roll Call vote 60
With Obamacare looming larger every day, conservative voters must remember what Planned Parenthood is all about – and recognize how far outside the mainstream the group’s enablers are. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is right to stop funneling donations to the nation’s top abortion provider, and it’s past time for Congress to do the same with taxpayer funds.
If you live in Montana, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, or Florida, help make your incumbent Democrat senator’s pro-abortion record known by all!
When not attacking American companies, President Obama gets downright romantic about the grand things American companies do with the Washington’s guidance. China is frequently a source of envy (see: passenger rail boondoggles), because China’s statist capitalism-lite floats Obama’s boat. As America’s most statist senator, Sherrod Brown (D-OH) is on board for anything involving more government!
Sherrod asked President Obama about his plans for a federal manufacturing and energy policy during a February 2010 Democrat meeting:
President Obama knows what’s best, and seems annoyed by the democracy blocking his path. For all his worries of “falling behind” autocratic China in the race to throw money at unmarketable products, we have to wonder how much of the New York Times coverage he was briefed on the week before!
In the United States, power companies frequently face a choice between buying renewable energy equipment or continuing to operate fossil-fuel-fired power plants that have already been built and paid for. In China, power companies have to buy lots of new equipment anyway, and alternative energy, particularly wind and nuclear, is increasingly priced competitively.
[...]
As in many other industries, China’s low labor costs are an advantage in energy.
Emphasis mine. Impromptu poll: Do you think Sherrod Brown or President Obama comprehend how expensive capital is, or realize China’s population and infrastructure are different from ours? Do you think they would cross Big Labor in order to compete with Chinese manufacturing in a meaningful way?
What the average person might call “reality” is only a cloud of pesky details for Barack Obama and Sherrod Brown to wave aside. Green energy is A Good Thing, so taxpayers should happily spend money on green energy while coal & oil companies take their medicine and ask for more. Pipelines are right out. Sure, we’ll lose the occasional half billion or so funding the endeavors of Obama donors, but that’s part of the fun!
In matters of manufacturing and green energy – as with most everything else – Sherrod Brown is a cheerleader for Obama’s worst Progressive tendencies. For a Senate seat the GOP can retake this November, look no further than Ohio!
Back in October, Sherrod Brown (D-OH) made one of his frequent MSNBC appearances to chat with Chris Matthews about the hot new show in town: Occupy Wall Street. Matthews and Brown seemed equally enthusiastic about the left’s answer to the Tea Party movement.
My favorite part of this clip is Sherrod’s self-contradicting statement, “this isn’t a liberal/conservative, left or right, it’s whose side are you on?” Sherrod is a Progressive, you see, so he’s not divisive – he just wants you to pick a side, and if you pick the wrong side he’s going to demonize you.
As reported in November at Third Base Politics, an Ohio conservative blog I help manage, Sherrod Brown’s campaign site even used the Occupiers’ “stand with the 99%” rhetoric for an email-harvesting web petition. Occupy Wall Street’s whiny demands that government do everything are a perfect match for Sherrod’s pitiful class warfare, and it seems obvious Sherrod had high hopes for the movement.
Tea Party populism is driven by anger at our government and at our country. Real populism fights for all Americans, while Tea Party populism divides us.
Republicans have always been good at coming up with catch phrases and slogans that traffic in fear and misinformation.
What changed between 2010 and 2011? Rallies against Obamacare’s unconstitutional overreach – for which Sherrod Brown was the deciding “Yea” vote – were replaced by riots against The Rich. Where is Sherrod’s editorial decrying the rampant violence and hatred we’ve seen from the Occupiers he endorsed on television not 4 months ago
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) hasn’t been rated America’s most liberal senator two years running by accident, nor as a result of some sudden leftward shift. If Sherrod’s votes from 1993-98 and 1999-2004 weren’t convincing enough, take a gander at recent reasons he should be a single-term senator.
Following are some of Sherrod’s notable votes from the list tracked by the American Conservative Union (ACU).
2005: Sherrod voted to block oil drilling in ANWR, hike fuel efficiency standards, and spend taxpayer funds on embryonic stem cell research. He voted against bankruptcy law reform, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac reform, tying UN funding to UN reforms, and requiring parental notification to transport a minor across state lines for an abortion. ACU Rating: 4
2006: Sherrod voted to impose Net Neutrality. He voted against a capital gains tax cut, a death tax cut, and ending the offshore oil & gas drilling moratorium. ACU Rating :25
2007: Sherrod voted to ban incandescent light bulbs, expand SCHIP, and spend tax dollars on embryonic stem cell research. He voted against death tax repeal, Alternative Minimum Tax repeal, extension of the Bush tax cuts, and improved earmark disclosure. ACU Rating: 0
2008: Sherrod voted for more risky Fannie & Freddie lending, two separate $4 billion Fannie & Freddie bailouts, the auto industry bailout, TARP, and a tax hike on energy companies. He voted against missile defense, an earmark moratorium, and a discretionary spending cap. ACU Rating: 8
2009: Sherrod voted for Obama’s “stimulus,” Cash for Clunkers, Obamacare, and Eric Holder’s confirmation as Attorney General. He voted against medical malpractice reform, D.C. school choice, and de-funding ACORN. ACU Rating: 0
2010: Sherrod voted for New START, the DREAM Act, and Craig Becker’s appointment to the NLRB. He voted against an earmark moratorium, D.C. school choice, death tax repeal, and a fence on the southern border. ACU Rating: 0
Sherrod Brown isn’t just a rubber stamp for President Obama’s failed policies – his entire career has been a tribute to stifling central government and weaker national defense.
Now in his twentieth year in Congress, Sherrod deserves no small share of the blame for the fiscal and moral bankruptcy of 2012 Washington. Seeing Sherrod Brown defeated in Ohio this November should be a priority for conservatives everywhere.
Don’t get your hopes up; Sherrod’s lifetime American Conservative Union (ACU) rating is 7.77.
1999: Sherrod voted against impeachment proceedings, a broad tax cut package, medical savings accounts, and education block grants. He voted to delay missile defense implementation, and to continue funding the United Nations without demanding UN reforms. ACU Rating: 0
2000: Sherrod voted against banning partial-birth abortion, eliminating the death tax, and cutting taxes to alleviate the marriage penalty. He voted to lift the embargo on Cuba, increase the federal minimum wage, and impose the federal minimum wage on the states. ACU Rating: 4
2001: Sherrod voted against making it a crime to kill an unborn child while committing another crime. He voted against school vouchers. He voted to allow taxpayer funding for abortions in federal prisons, lift the embargo on Cuba, tighten SUV mileage standards, and maintain the ANWR oil-drilling ban. ACU Rating: 4
2002: Sherrod voted against extending welfare reform, eliminating the death tax, banning partial-birth abortion, capping medical malpractice suits, and a broad 1% domestic spending cut. He voted to limit free speech in the months preceding an election, and to allow Homeland Security employees to unionize. ACU Rating: 4
2003: Sherrod voted against a partial-birth abortion ban, medical malpractice reform, class action lawsuit reform, death tax repeal, and DC school choice vouchers. He voted to fund abortions at military hospitals, keep ANWR closed from drilling, allow human cloning, and allow negligence suits against gun manufacturers when a gun is used to commit a crime. ACU Rating: 16
2004: Sherrod again voted against making it a criminal offense to kill an unborn child while committing another crime. He voted against medical malpractice reform, allowing small businesses to buy health insurance as a group, drilling in ANWR, and a 1% cut in non-defense discretionary spending. He voted to fund abortion at military hospitals, block “bunker-buster” development, and cut military spending in favor of green energy programs. ACU Rating: 4
Based on Sherrod’s 1993-2004 record, he was one of America’s worst representatives on pro-life issues, taxes, school choice, entitlements, and national defense. During his first 12 years in Congress, Sherrod Brown proved himself a worthy torch-bearer for the Progressive cause.
Think he’s improved in the years since? We’ll see next week!
But when Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy and puts people at risk, I have an obligation as President to do what I can without them. I have an obligation to act on behalf of the American people. I will not stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people they were elected to serve.
Emphasis mine. Obama’s “do what I can” seems to get redefined daily. The proletariat cannot wait for the machinations of Wall Street swine and their purchased politicians!
From a safe distance, Sherrod strummed the same class warfare strings in a press release:
Ohio families deserve a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – complete with a Director – that can stand up to the special interests and look out for Ohioans’ interests. We asked for a fair up or down vote on Richard Cordray’s nomination. But too many senators are willing to stand instead with Wall Street, blocking a qualified nominee for the first time in the history of the Senate based on opposition to an agency’s very existence.
While avoiding an event where he might be photographed next to an unpopular leftist, Sherrod is a leading spokesman for the president’s most contemptible Progressive policies.
Obama justified the illegal appointment of a new czar by citing regulations that should be pursued by the legislature. Remember the legislature? It’s one of those other branches of the federal government… but unfortunately for President Obama, not every senator is a radical statist like Sherrod Brown.
Regardless of geographic proximity, Sherrod Brown and President Obama are peas in a Progressive pod. Based on his love for stifling central government, we might assume Sherrod learned the wrong lessons from the Russian Studies program at Yale!
Monday, 02-20-12, 05:26:31pm 
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